


you won't get hurt if you stay chaste

by callistawolf



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Jealousy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-02
Updated: 2013-12-02
Packaged: 2018-01-03 05:32:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1066340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callistawolf/pseuds/callistawolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry Allen is in town and he and Felicity are getting along very well.  Maybe a little too well.  It doesn't sit well with Oliver one bit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you won't get hurt if you stay chaste

“What in the hell was _that_?” Felicity demanded, stomping down the steps from the club into the lair.  Her heels made a click clacking noise that echoed off the walls and both Diggle and Oliver looked up from where they’d been sparring to watch the third member of their team come at them, ponytail bobbing, skirt swishing, and eyes flashing. 

Oliver glanced at Digg and the other man just put his hands up and backed away, moving to the side of the room to grab a towel to mop his sweaty forehead.  No help there then.  He’d have to play stupid.  He was good at doing that. 

He knew exactly what Felicity was referring to.  Back at Queen Consolidated, he’d perhaps been a little hard on Felicity’s new friend, Barry Allen.  Even now, thinking about that… _kid_ with the sticky-uppy hair and the cool sneakers and the way he smiled at Felicity set his teeth on edge. All he’d wanted to do was make sure it was clear to everyone present that Barry was a kid.  Maybe knock him down a peg or two.  He was just so smart and Felicity had clearly been charmed by that and, god help him, he’d acted without thinking. 

Which isn’t to say that he regretted the things he’d said.  Or the dark looks he’d given the young crime scene investigator from Central City.  He hadn’t regretted them at the time, at least.  But now, as Felicity bore down on him, irritation vibrating through her small frame, he was starting to rethink his actions.  

“What the hell was what?” he asked her, keeping his entire posture as relaxed as possible.  He didn’t miss the way her eyes strayed to his bare chest.  The knowledge that she admired his muscles, even as covered in scars as they were, pleased him in a way he didn’t care to investigate too closely.  

 “Don’t play stupid with me, Oliver Queen,” she snapped, poking a pink painted fingernail in his chest.  “You knew exactly what you were doing when you said all of that to Barry.  What exactly are you playing at?”

“I’m not _playing_ at anything,” he growled.  “He’s young, he’s naive and inexperienced.  I don’t need his help.” 

“Yes. You. Do.  I don’t get it,” she said, peering up into his eyes, her forehead crinkled.  “You’ve always trusted me before when I’ve brought someone in or found someone who could help us.  What is the difference this time?” 

Oliver shifted nervously, turning away so she couldn’t see the answer he was afraid was clear in his eyes.  “He’s a liability.  A loose end and I don’t like having those lying around.  This is my _life_ , Felicity.” 

She made a skeptical noise in the back of her throat.  “Oliver, I told you once before.  I’m blonde, but I’m not _that_ blonde.  I think we both know what this is.” 

He turned back to her and found her regarding him seriously.  Her blue eyes were dark, sharp.  Felicity could always pin him with a look.  There was precious little he could hide from her and that made her both extremely enticing and incredibly frightening all at the same time.  

“Felicity,” he began and then he stopped, clenching his jaw.  “Now isn’t the time.”

She stepped back and her normally open expression shuttered.  “It’s never the time, is it?  It never _will be_ the time.  Fine.  Have it your way.”  Felicity turned and began to stride away, her heels loud on the concrete floor.  She paused next to the stairs, her hand resting on the railing and she half turned back to him. “Just know this, Oliver.  I don’t plan on waiting around.” 

Oliver watched helplessly as she climbed the stairs and swung through the door.  He was wondering to himself why things couldn’t remain simple like they’d been when she’d first joined his team when a throat cleared pointedly at his elbow.  He turned to see Digg standing there, fixing him with a look.  

“What?” he grumbled peevishly.   He turned away and crossed to the table where he’d stripped off his t-shirt earlier, pulling it over his head with jerking movements.  

Digg followed him, arms cross over his chest.  “What you’re doing to her, it isn’t fair.” 

“I’m not _doing_ anything. All I did was sneer at the kid.  I don’t understand why everyone is jumping all over my back about it.” 

“You’re jealous, Oliver.  You don’t like the way ‘that kid’ looks at Felicity or the way she responds to him.”  Digg stepped closer and lowered his arms.  When he spoke again, his voice was soft.  “I really don’t want to get involved in this, but if you aren’t going to move on her, you can’t very well stop her from enjoying herself.” 

He ground his teeth together, feeling annoyance prickle along his spine.  “That’s not what I’m trying to do.”

“Oh really?  Could have fooled me.  Yesterday, he asks her to dinner.  You interrupt, saying she has to work.  He compliments her dress.  You accuse him of not focusing on the job.”  Digg’s voice dripped with sarcasm.  

“Exactly.  We are on a job, now is not the time to be making moves on my…”  He broke off, not knowing what he was about to say but knowing that it would have been incriminating as hell.  

“Your what, exactly?” Digg asked.  “Executive assistant?  Crime fighting partner?  Friend?  What is she to you, Oliver?”

“All of those things,” he ground out. 

“And more?”

Oliver didn’t answer.  He couldn’t because he knew the words he _should_ say would get stuck in his throat.   

“Listen, I feel for you.  I really do.  I’ve been in this place before.  But telling her who she can date if you’re not willing to date her yourself, well, that’s just cruel.  And I love you both, but I’m going to have to take her side in this.  I won’t stand back and watch you hurt her.”

“Digg…”

“Especially when I know you aren’t limiting your own social life.”

Oliver looked sharply at his brother in arms.  “What?”

“I know about Isabel Rochev.  You slept with her when we were in Moscow.”

“How do you know about that?”

Digg rolled his eyes at him, his lips thinning.  “C’mon, man.  It’s all the talk back at QC.  And how do you think Felicity will feel when she finds out?” 

Oliver cringed.  “She already knows.”

“What?  Oliver…” 

“She saw Isabel coming out of my room that night,” he admitted, turning around to face the table, bracing his arms on the surface.  

“And you have the nerve to give her a hard time about Barry?  Are you kidding me?” 

“I’m not… It’s not what you think, Digg.” 

“Yeah.  Why don’t you pull the other one.”  Digg moved past him to the bathroom for a shower.  “But remember.  She’s not going to wait for you forever.” 

Oliver paced in front of Felicity’s computer after Digg left the room, restless and aggravated.  Everyone seemed to think they had him pegged.  Couldn’t he just not trust the guy?  Why did there have to be some ulterior motive or hidden feelings?   

He slumped into her office chair and leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees and shoving his hands into his hair.  Because maybe, just maybe, they were all right.   

Felicity wasn’t just his friend and she hadn’t been for some time.  He’d hoped to ignore the feelings that grew every time he was around her but clearly avoidance wasn’t the answer.  And pushing her away seemed to be backfiring in his face completely.  Oliver had never had this problem before.  In the past, women had always just come to him.  The one time he’d been involved in a serious relationship, with Laurel, he’d sabotaged it big time by sleeping with her sister.  Relationships were his Achilles heel.  He hurt everyone he ever got involved with.

He couldn’t damage Felicity.  She was too _good_ for that.  But neither did he think he could sit back and watch her and Barry… _canoodle_.  Oliver shuddered.  No, as Digg would happily tell him, it was time to fish or cut bait. 

 


End file.
